It's Official...

We're moving to Georgia!!!

We've been talking about it for months, and now it's a reality. Crazy fun! We should have all the final details next week, but we're definitely moving this summer!

Some Easter photos...

I have been seriously down for the count with this flu. I'm most definitely getting better (praise God) but this has been as sick as I've been in a long time.

Since my energy level has been way low, I haven't been doing a whole lot (unless laying on the couch watching QVC at 4 am counts!). We did dye Easter eggs last Saturday and got some cute pics of the boys Easter Sunday (since the whole family was sick, we didn't make it to church, but we dressed them up anyhow). So enjoy...I think they're pretty adorable!

Good Friday...

Easter is my all-time favorite holiday....after all, if it wasn't for Easter, where would we be? Some people get kind of morbid about Good Friday, but I think it's an amazing day. Think how much our Savior loves us that He would willingly be put to death on the cross. I think we sometimes forget that Jesus could have come down off that cross at any point, but love for us kept Him there. It's overwhelming. What a Savior!

Enjoy your Good Friday. And if you don't mind, say a little prayer for our family....Will, Christian and I are fighting a cold.

Good stuff tomorrow....

I'm heading to bed soon, but I'll be posting some fun stuff tomorrow. I've got a couple new pics of the boys and a few projects I've been working on, plus a Cosmo Cricket kit. Happy day!

I've been a bad, bad blogger...

We've had alot going on. Yucky stuff. Fortunately, things are looking brighter. Palm Sunday is in two days, spring seems to finally be arriving, and I got a happy package in the mail today (more details on that soon).

Life is good. :)

P.S. We should have final word about our move by the end of the month!

Happy Birthday Christian...

Christian is our Leap Year baby, so today is his first technical birthday! We spent the day celebrating and having fun, including lunch at McDonald's (Mommy and 3 boys at McD's together is always an adventure!). We let Christian choose what he wanted for dinner, so we ended up having easy strawberry and blueberry shortcake (those pre-made pastries, whipped cream, and fruit). Seriously, that was dinner. Max and I decided we must have taken temporary leave of our senses. :)

I'll post some pics tommorrow. Have a great one!

And one more time, Happy Birthday Christian!

Just a little post...

I almost always listen to the radio in the car, and will frequently listen to some Christian talk shows on my way to work. One of my favorites is Midday Connection, and it especially spoke to me today, so I wanted to share.

That's all for now. Enjoy your Wednesday!

Nothing exciting happening here...

I think the stomach bug has returned...yuck! So not too much going on today. I was hoping to redo the den/playroom today, but right now I have no energy. :(

I think I'm going to pull out my embossing stencils tonight, so I might have something crafty to share tomorrow. It all depends on how I'm feeling.

Until then, here's a couple pics of the boys. Will took the first one.

How cute is this...

You can make your own at blessthischick.com. Thanks to Jo at A Scrappin' Friendsy for the link!

Another weekend over...

I can't believe how fast this weekend went! Yesterday was another Fiskars Demonstrator Training session...it went really well. Mom and Dad both completed the training (that was interesting - watching my Dad scrapbook!) as well as three other ladies. I'm holding another one in Lancaster next month and then a couple tiny two-on-one sessions. And then I'll be done. I was worried a bit about training my 20 people, but it's all going to work out.

I was able to get some scrapbooking done this weekend, which is always a happy thing. Sometimes I wish I could spend a whole week scrapping away - just to get caught up with all the projects I have laying around my table!

Hopefully this week I'll be able to get a video of the boys. The new camera takes MP4 videos and apparently Blogger only likes MP3's, so I need to pull out the old camera. Andrew is quite chatty...maybe I can get him talking on his phone - it's quite adorable!

Happy Valentine's Day...

One of the best "side-effects" of my scrapbooking is that Max now makes me cards. They're always a little funky, but they mean the world to me. The top picture is a side-by-side of our cards (you can probably guess who made each one!) and the bottom is the back of Max's card. That chipboard cracks me up!

We don't go all out for Valentine's Day, but we usually get to go on a date (thank you Mom!) and, of course, the cards. I love these little reminders of our love for each other. So, thank you honey! I love you!

A few more projects...

I've been having some scrappy fun lately. I'll post some details later! :)

Our computer died...

It's official...the motherboard on our Dell died. And since it's very difficult to use a computer without a mouse, not to mention the printers or digital photo sharing, we had to buy a new one. Crazy.

Now we're in Windows Vista-land and so far, so good. I'm actually liking it. Hopefully they have all the bugs worked out. Today I'm trying to play catch up and work on uploading files and getting the various drivers installed. I'll try to post some layouts tomorrow...baby steps today! ;)

Just a couple recent projects...

I apologize that they're not cropped, but I'm having a rough night tonight. I've been battling (literally) Will and Christian for the past hour-and-a-half and I'm worn out!

The snowflake is from Say It With Letters...I've got the acorn for fall and now this snowflake for winter. I'm working on a flower for spring and star for summer. I love these shapes!

The other three are some recent layouts (I hate the third one though!). The love layout is for the A Scrappin' Friendsy Design Team...I was able to work with Bo Bunny papers (love them!) and I used some of my Bazzill In Stitch'z template to sew the ghost letters to the layout.

The bottom two layouts are ones I created for the last crop at Scrap Diner.

I'm praying about something big...details to come soon (I hope!). For now, here's a hint:

Honey Pie

Overwhelmed...

I have been such a bad blogger lately. There's a lot going on, and I have lots of scrappy things to share, so be on the lookout (if you're into that kind of thing!). Today was a crazy day - the boys were really wired. Do you want to know why?


Today was the day our homeschool materials came. Every time the boys heard a car or truck, they rushed to the front windows looking for the Fed Ex guy. Normally he comes around lunch time...today he waited until 4 pm. I'm overwhelmed that my children are this excited about school (Christian is actually very jealous about Will's program, so he'll be joining us for most lessons). I'm overwhelmed to think about this amazing journey we are about to begin...I get to be there, every step of the way, watching my children learn. Wow. I'm so blessed to be able to stay home with the boys and teach them; Max has no idea how completely grateful I am to him for encouraging me quit work. I thank God for giving me the gift of teaching...this is my passion. So I'm overwhelmed, but in a totally good way. I am blessed beyond measure.

I'm a bit emotional tonight, but this is such a huge step for our family. We've talked about this day and prayed about this day...and it's finally here. God is good.

My first tutorial...

This week I finished up my last layout for the monthly contest at Gateway to Memories. We were given some Basic Grey paper, tags, and monograms to work with. I decided to do a rather simple page, but to give it a little kick, I embossed the monogram letters with some ultra-thick embossing enamel (UTEE). While I was embossing, Max took some pictures so I could do a little tutorial. When I first started buying scrapbook magazines, I thought embossing with UTEE was this really difficult process and to be honest, it scared me a bit. One day I went to Michael's, saw a big container of it, and decided to go for it. And it's actually quite easy and forgiving to work with! So, to start, here's the finished layout: To begin, you'll need a few tools. I use regular aluminum foil as my surface cover (very low-tech here!). You'll also need a VersaMark watermark pad, a heat gun, tweezers, and the UTEE. I'm embossing cardstock letters here, but you are certainly not limited to either letters or cardstock!

To begin, press your letters (right side down) until they are covered with the watermark ink. If you've never worked with watermark ink before, it's supposed to be clear.
Liberally pour the UTEE on the newly inked letter.
Once your letter is completely covered with the powder, lift out of the pile. Leave the rest there - you'll need it in a minute.
I tap my letter to get any loose pieces of powder off.
Now comes the fun part! Heat up your letter with a heat gun. As it's heating, you'll notice your powder changes to a gloss.

After you're finished with your first round of embossing, the surface will be textured. It's hard to see in the picture, but instead of being smooth, it has slight bumps and ridges. If you like the texture, you can stop now. Otherwise, you'll repeat the process.

For this part, you need to work fast. While the UTEE is still hot, you want to re-dip your letter into the leftover pile of powder. If your surface doesn't pick up any new powder, it's too dry. To remedy that, just re-heat with the heat gun.

Again, heat up the powder with your heat gun. Many times it takes on a smooth finish after the second round of embossing, but sometimes you will need to complete the steps a third time.

Allow to dry, and your letter is ready to use! The next two pictures show the glossy surface that is created.


The wonderful thing about working with UTEE is that it is very forgiving. If you get an air bubble, just apply the heat gun and work it out. Once the letter is dry, you can actually crack the surface (if you're going for a distressed look). If your letter cracks by accident, just re-apply the heat.

Here is a close-up of my finished project:

I made a Design Team...

I'm so excited! I have been asked to be part of the Design Team for A Scrappin Friendsy!!! I'm so thrilled and honored to be part of the team, and look forward to working with all the fabulous ladies there! This is such a warm and welcoming site...the name is definitely appropriate! :)


In other scrappy news, my Big Bite came this week! I love this guy! I got the chance to play around with it today, and I give it an enthusiastic two thumbs up! I also think it's pretty cool that it matches the Fiskars orange! ;)

I'm recouperating well...still very tired and sore, but I'm definitely getting better. I'm so impatient - I want to be back to normal NOW, but my body is telling me to wait. Today was the one-week mark and Tuesday morning is my follow-up visit. I'm hoping that I'll be able to pick up the boys again...Andrew is a bit confused as to why Mommy can't hold him.

Speaking of the boys, they are going through some major cabin fever. We really need to get out of the house for a while. Not sure where I want to go though....I'm thinking a trip to Target might be in order this weekend. Don't we lead quite the exciting life? Ha-ha!

I'm home...

Surgery went well on Thursday... I had an amazing ER team (including a former student, no kidding!). Recovery was a bit rough at first (heart rate and BP were elevated), but fortunately everything got calmed down.

I had absolutely wonderful nurses the entire time! I don't think I've ever been able to say that before, but we were really blessed. And, my roommate ended up being my family doctor's grandmother. I'm in bed Thursday night when all of a sudden Dr Orange comes in with his daughter! What are the odds?

Yesterday my surgeon was in surgery most of the day so we had to wait (and wait) for him to come up and release me. Around 5 pm, they finally sent me home...we had Moe's for dinner, visited with Mom and Dad for a bit, then slept!

I'm still quite sore, but they have me on some strong medicine for that! I'm even talking about scrapbooking later today! After a nice hot shower and a nap, of course!

Last, but most definitely not least, thank you so much for your prayers! God is good!

I just want to say...

I love my husband. :)

Two days and counting...

Until surgery, that is. I've been a little worried cause I've been fighting this nasty headcold...today I'm so much better though. I called the surgeon's office this morning (for fear of having to reschedule) and the nurse assured me I'll be fine. So come Thursday, I'll be gall bladder-less. It's been making me miserable so I'm completely ready to have it out of my body, but I'm still nervous about having surgery. I'd appreciate your prayers very much. And knowing me, I'll be back on the computer come Friday! ;)

I just realized I haven't posted any photos from Max's birthday cake. Will and Christian helped me decorate...notice the clumps of candy sprinkles and snowmen! It was quite tasty though!

And yes I did put 32 candles on that bad boy! It almost looks like the fourth of July! :)

Tomorrow at midnight (technically Thursday) HSN is premiering the new Crop-A-Dile. This bad boy looks HUGE and can punch up to 6"... so now an entire 12x12 page is covered! I'm trying to talk Max into buying me one instead of flowers as my post-surgery present. Sounds like a plan to me!

And lastly, here is another layout (Max helped with this one!). I'm participating in the LOAD (layout a day) challenge over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. You can sign up until the 15th and it's FREE! How cool is that!